Silvia - thanks, I'll post pictures as things develop. Are those the same Mexican Sunflower seeds you sent me? Michael - oh boy, now I have to Google/Wiki chaya and learn everything I can about it...you know I'll have to have some :-) Julie - I'm working at least half-days that weekend but I think I'll make the trip Saturday afternoon. I've always wanted to check them out since everyone gives them such high praise...thanks for the info. John - I agree. Cathy will be 2-3 years behind me before she retires so it also looks like I'll be doing the laundry and cooking, but the weekly house-cleaning service is NEVER going away :-) I received your seeds yesterday, thanks! Tom

Gardner - I adore the four bed wall! I'll have to print that one and keep it for reference. Sandy - My father grew up in Greenville, FL. We lived 6 hours south of there but went up about once each year or every other year when I was a child. My grandfather designed and built the farmhouse himself. I sat down with my dad a few years ago and we sketched out the floorplan. There were no frills, mostly just a series of bedrooms connected to a kitchen. No dedicated living space and no indoor plumbing. Most of the socializing was done on the front porch. There was an outhouse out back and a well with a bucket that we had to draw water from. One year we went up and the had installed an old iron handpump beside the kitchen sink so they could draw water directly into the kitchen. A year or two later and they had upgraded to real running water and indoor bathroom. We would visit during the summer and they had no air conditioning. At the time, we didn't have A/C at our home either but it always seemed much hotter there. I still have cousins that live there but I wouldn't know them if I ran into them. I would have to visit now, as an adult, to form an opinion. One last bit of trivia about the old days, I remember there was a spot just down the road from their farmhouse where there was large lettering painted at an angle on the asphalt that said "QUINCY" and a big arrow underneath. They said this was painted on the road in the days before modern navigational beacons and was meant to guide airplanes. Later today I will be driving past a newer, very small home I spotted a few months back. It's in a rural area aobut an hour from my house and I don't pass that way often. I have prepared a short letter inviting contact and will be pinning that to their front gate. Let's hope we can meet them and draw them into our circle. Scott

Dan: Oh, likely not (legends and pantheons), but I appreciate your supportive words. :) I'm a 'do what we can' and 'every little bit helps' sorta person, but life got hectic after the first two rescue years, and we dropped the ball -- save making sure we kept as many nectar plants around as possible. Officially an empty nester now, I have plenty of free time to get back into it. Though, my garden and butterfly plants are going through a thing right now. I harvested a couple of eggs (on milkweed branches) the other day and brought them in. Noticed yesterday they were getting darker, and I completely forgot the timetable! Sure enough this morning, new babies in the house!!! I examined the first leaf and noticed a newly chewed hole...and the egg looked empty!: OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! Flipped the leaf over to find: Close-up (AKA money shot): STRIPE-LETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D Here's the second little guy: You can even see the little ridges on the egg sac. This never ceases to amaze me, time and time again.

Non-germination would have been even less time consuming. << Boy, do I ever second THAT! :) . I had 6 swamp milkweed seeds germinate (last April) after three years of trying, and I was over the moon. No amount of coaxing encouraged these three in-ground plants to grow taller than ~ 7-8". They never wilted or showed signs of stress, but never grew -- well watered, so that wasn't the issue. (Three planted in a pot did well -- growing to 3' -- until the rust got to them. I never did get to see my first swamp MW bloom.)